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Talk:My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Friendship Games/@comment-7345250-20150927162625
Wow... This one is laughably bad. Whereas the first one is atrocious and the second passable, EG3 seems to be aiming for some kind of self-parody... because otherwise it's nonsensical. The Good: *Sugarcoat neglecting to sugarcoat anything. This is irony of the good sort, and it's the only humor in the film that holds much water. Pinkie Pie consistently fails here, but Sugarcoat does it right. *Principal Cinch. Certainly the most interesting human character thus far. Here we have a steely, pitiless egotist whose only aim is not power but myth. She wants a reputation that matches her ego. Many villains try hard to make reality match their visions, but Cinch does this in a chillingly realistic fashion. I have to subtract a few points for taking the name of Atticus Finch in vain, but Abacus Cinch dominates the screen whenever she appears. *Brad joins the background club. Finally. He was on the right track midway through EG2, but now he's finally getting a decent niche: that brave guy who hollers at the pretentious speaker from within the audience. He would be much better as a luckless rulebreaker than a contrived love interest. *No Twilight Sparkle. We got through the whole story without Twilight Sparkle marching in, hijacking the plot, and goofing around with Brad between actual scenes. My foremost complaint about the EG series has been Twilight's behavior, and removing her from the story averted that one today. The Bad: *The Shadowbolts. Good grief. 1) These five were made to sell toys, and it shows. They were overhyped long, long before the film's airing, and then they became the least memorable characters in the series. Their personalities are solely their verbal tics. It would have been less degrading if the team had just used Suri Polomare and co. 2) The Shadowbolts are horribly obnoxious. One screams because she has nearly deafened herself. One screams because she has mood swings. One just screams. Go figure. *Sunset Shimmer. Yes, I dislike Sunset more than any other character in the franchise, but this film has not done anything to change that. The character is still a seventh wheel, so to speak, since we are adding a second Twilight to the mix. Furthermore, here we have a loon who has done a one-eighty not only in personality but also in ambition. The Sunset Shimmer of the first film had Twilight's name, but at least she wasn't completely Twilight Sparkle 2.0 (now with sappy forgiveness motif). *More confusing designs and choices. Shining Armor is an alumnus? Is he older than Jet Set and the other Shadowbolts? Does this apply in Equestria too? Oy vey. And are his and Sci-Twi's parents involved in any way? Were they paying Crystal Prep tuition? What do they think of Twi's transferring? Are they as old as Principal Celestia? Much of the confusion stems from the inherently flawed foundation of EG, but EG3 has done nothing to help any of it. *Spike talking. For crying out loud, could they really not get through this thing without shoehorning some Spike lines into it? If you're going to introduce him as Spike the Dog in the opening sequence, then let him be a dog. Giving him the ability to speak because he fell through a horse portal is... honestly stupid. The Ugly: *Midnight Sparkle. Please understand. Apparently, accidentally absorbing six schoolgirls' worth of magic is enough to turn a similar schoolgirl evil. Why? Because magic works differently in Canterlot High. Allegedly. Seriously, how does the magic of friendship open hazardous dimensional holes and corrupt its user? For how else could Sci-Twi go from "Help me" to "MUAHAHAHA" with a pair of black wings? The character's design is dreadful, as is the transformation, as is the rationale behind all of it. *The rest of the climax. Here we go. Sunset uses the same magic as Midnight to seal the wormholes and save the day. Without becoming evil of course. Because friendship magic is only evil when it serves the plot. It would be understandable if Midnight had gotten it all from the portal, but when they both get it from the exact same source, the whole corruption becomes ludicrous. Also, Midnight accepts Sunset's offer without so much as a thought about Cinch's deal, so there is virtually no suspense to be found. For anyone out there persnickety enough to care about where I am putting these bulletpoints, this counts as Bad too. *Music. Sweet mercy, this one was bland. Aside from the Cinch Song, everything else is despicably forgettable. Sci-Twi had something big and wonky early on in the film, but the lyrics are whiny and the tune immemorable. Rainbow Dash had something too in the gymnasium. Then there was the academics montage. I am being told that there was a fourth song before Cinch, but unless it was the title sequence, I have no idea what it could be. Fortunately, the songs are fewer than in EG2, but they are, for the most part, worse. I give it a 4/10. It is not anything I will likely watch again, but at least it's a far cry from the one-out-of-ten first installment in the series. Cinch is the real draw here. If you want to watch this film for its heroes, then prepare to cringe.